With the advent of electronic computing, business organizations have deployed computerized information systems to provide time-critical, cost-efficient business solutions. Information systems typically include various software applications distributed across one or more hardware/network operating environments.
In developing such systems, traditional system engineering involves multiple development phases, including a requirements phase, an architecture design phase, a construction phase, and a deployment phase. During the design phases, static descriptions and assumptions about hardware and software component behavior and characteristics are relied on for developing the system architecture of the information system.
However, in deployed systems, the characteristics and behavior associated with individual hardware and software components are dynamic. Thus, the information system as a whole is also associated with dynamic characteristics and behavior. Changes in workload and hardware and software interactions typically have a significant effect on system performance.
With traditional system engineering, dynamic characteristics and behavior are not addressed until late in the development process, if at all, where the improvement possibilities are more limited. Thus, there is no guarantee that an information system, once deployed, will satisfy current and future business requirements, such as business-critical response time and throughput.
Furthermore, problem isolation and debugging becomes more complicated, resulting in increased development costs and time. In particular, if the origin of a problem resides in the business or architecture design itself, the cost of improvement may become prohibitive without partial or full redesign. Thus, with traditional system engineering, it is difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee the deployment of complex business information systems within time and budget constraints having required performance and operating costs.